XY Chelsea Movie Review

Plot

"XY Chelsea" is a documentary about Chelsea Manning, the gender-transitioned former Bradley Manning. The latter released 750,000 classified and sensitive papers and films regarding the Iraq war in 2010 while Manning was an intelligence analyst there. As the film begins, it is "January 17, 2017," and Manning's lawyer receives a call (which we later watch then-President Obama explain) that Manning's jail term has been commuted (but not pardoned). The film team follows Manning about after he is released from jail, and then the film moves back in time to examine Manning's background and eventual recruitment into the Army.

Star Performance

The continuous flow of characters being added to the documentary, whether supporting or not; all have significant roles, as it seems.

Analysis

"I'm not a hero," Chelsea Manning admits at the end of Tim Travers Hawkins' "XY Chelsea," a gripping but often frustrating documentary about Manning's 2017 release from prison for releasing classified military papers. Manning came out as a trans woman while in jail, and now that she's out, she enjoys wearing ultra-red lipstick and growing her hair long, both of which were not allowed at the all-male institution. Manning is asked difficult and legitimate questions about what she did and why she chose Wikileaks in a public interview with a New Yorker reporter and she reacts defensively and inconclusively. There is so much about this issue that requires further explanation, detail, and context that we must defer judgement for the time being.

What's There?

• The narrative build-up is smooth.
• It has a more personal touch to the documentary than rational viewpoints.

What's Not There?

• Lack of factual interpretation

Verdict

XY Chelsea feels like a quick synopsis of Chelsea Manning's life thus far, open to additional investigation and interpretation, with much more to be conveyed. So as a documentary, it has done a somewhat excellent job in describing everything to the common mass with adequate sensitive information.